UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PUBLICATIONS 

COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION 

BERKELEY,   CALIFORNIA 


TURKISH  TOBACCO  CULTURE,  CURING,  AND  MARKETING 


By  WARREN   T.  CLARKE 


Sun-curing  Turkish  Type  Tobacco.     Note  use  of  giant  reed  poles. 

BULLETIN  No.  366 

June,   1923 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PRESS 

BERKELEY,  CALIFORNIA 

1923 


David  P.  Barrows,  President  of  the  University. 


EXPERIMENT  STATION  STAFF 

HEADS  OF  DIVISIONS 

Thomas  Forsyth  Hunt,  Dean. 

Edward  J.  Wickson,  Horticulture  (Emeritus). 

,  Director  of  Resident  Instruction. 

C.  M.  Haring,  Veterinary  Science,  Director  of  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 

B.  H.  Crocheron,  Director  of  Agricultural  Extension. 

C.  B.  Hutchison,  Plant  Breeding,  Director  of  the  Branch  of  the  College  of 

Agriculture  at  Davis. 
H.  J.  Webber,  Sub-tropical  Horticulture,  Director  of  Citrus  Experiment  Station. 
William  A.  Setchell,  Botany. 
Myer  E.  Jaffa,  Nutrition. 
Ralph  E.  Smith,  Plant  Pathology. 
John  W.  Gilmore,  Agronomy. 
Charles  F.  Shaw,  Soil  Technology. 
John  W.  Gregg,  Landscape  Gardening  and  Floriculture. 
Frederic  T.  Bioletti,  Viticulture  and  Fruit  Products. 
Warren  T.  Clarke,  Agricultural  Extension. 
Ernest  B.  Babcock,  Genetics. 
Gordon  H.  True,  Animal  Husbandry. 
Walter  Mulford,  Forestry. 
James  T.  Barrett,  Plant  Pathology. 
W.  P.  Kelley,  Agricultural  Chemistry. 
H.  J.  Quayle,  Entomology. 
Elwood  Mead,  Rural  Institutions. 
H.  S.  Reed,  Plant  Physiology. 
L.  D.  Batchelor,  Orchard  Management. 
W.  L.  Howard,  Pomology. 
*Frank  Adams,  Irrigation  Investigations. 

C.  L.  Roadhouse,  Dairy  Industry. 
R.  L.  Adams,  Farm  Management. 

W.  B.  Herms,  Entomology  and  Parasitology. 
John  E.  Dougherty,  Poultry  Husbandry. 

D.  R.  Hoagland,  Plant  Nutrition. 
G.  H.  Hart,  Veterinary  Science. 

L.  J.  Fletcher,  Agricultural  Engineering. 
Edwin  C.  Voorhies,  Assistant  to  the  Dean. 


*  In  cooperation  with  Division  of  Agricultural  Engineering,  Bureau  of  Public  Roads,  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture. 


TURKISH  TOBACCO  CULTURE,  CURING, 
AND  MARKETING1 


By  WAEEEN  T.  CLAEKE 


CONTENTS  page 

General  Discussion 639 

Varieties  and  Improvement  through  Selection 644 

Climate 649 

Soils 651 

Preparation  of  the  Land 652 

Cultivation — Irrigation 654 

The  Seed  Bed 656 

Transplanting 658 

Field  Treatment  and  Picking 659 

First  Operation  in  Curing 660 

Curing  Barns 662 

Some  Suggestions 663 

Fermentation,  Grading,  and  Marketing 666 

Methods  of  Fermenting  Turkish  Tobacco 666 

Bulk  Fermentation 666 

Bale  Fermentation 666 

Marketing  Turkish  Type  Tobacco 672 

Pests 673 

Appendix * 675 

The  tobacco  plant  (Nicotiana  tdbacum)  is  a  native  of  the  western 
hemisphere.  It  takes  its  botanical  name  from  Jean  Nicot  who  intro- 
duced its  use  to  the  French  court  between  1555  and  1560.  It  takes 
its  specific  name  from  a  tube  called  the  'tabaco, '  used  by  the  natives 
of  Haiti  for  smoking  and  for  taking  snuff.  The  plant  has  a  rather 
close  family  relationship  to  the  tomato  and  potato  and  to  the  so-called 
nightshades. 

The  first  Caucasian  visitors  to  the  western  continents  found  the 
natives  using  the  leaves  of  this  plant  for  smoking,  chewing,  and 
snuffing.  It  was  highly  esteemed  by  these  native  Indians  and  was 
considered  by  them  to  have  a  certain  medicinal  value.  They  under- 
stood well  the  process  of  curing  the  leaf  and  there  is  small  doubt 
that  the  product  turned  out  by  them  was  of  good  quality.  In  some 
cases  the  smoking  of  tobacco  assumed  a  certain  ceremonial  v.alue. 

1  Acknowledgment  is  made  to  Daniel  S.  Neuman,  of  Napa,  California,  for 
valuable  suggestions  and  material  furnished;  to  Mr.  Alfred  Aram,  President, 
Associated  Tobacco  Growers,  Inc.,  of  California,  for  assistance  rendered  and 
for  the  section  on  fermentation,  grading,  and  marketing;  to  Mr.  E.  J.  Moore- 
head  of  Crows  Landing  for  valuable  data  furnished  and  to  members  of  the  staff 
of  the  Experiment  Station  who  have  read  and  criticised  this  manuscript. 


640  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

The  smoking'  of  the  "pipe  of  peace"  meant  a  sacred  ratification  of 
treaties  looking  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities  between  tribes  and  an 
ending-  of  wars  between  the  colonists  and  the  Indians.  The  English 
colonists  soon  began  to  use  tobacco  and  it  came  to  fill  a  rather  im- 
portant place  in  the  colonies  as  a  medium  of  barter  and  exchange. 
It  soon  found  its  way  to  England  and  to  the  continent  of  Europe 
through  trade  channels  and  has  since  come  into  general  use  through- 
out the  world. 

The  alkaloid,  nicotine,  which  is  the  distinguishing  feature  of  to- 
bacco, is  a  violent  poison  in  the  concentrated  form.  In  the  cured  leaf 
but  minute  quantities  of  this  alkaloid  are  found  and  the  material  how- 
ever used  becomes  a  very  mild  narcotic.  It  has,  however,  enough  of  this 
narcotic  effect  to  be  habit-forming,  and  perhaps  this  fact  accounts  for 
the  very  wide  use  of  tobacco  all  over  the  world. 

The  general  demand  for  the  cured  leaf  stimulated  tobacco  grow- 
ing in  America  and  generally  throughout  the  islands  contiguous  to 
our  southeastern  coast  until  now  the  growing  (fig.  1)  and  curing  of 
tobacco  is  an  extremely  important  industry  on  this  continent  and 
in  the  islands  of  Cuba,  Haiti,  and  others  of  the  West  Indian  group. 
Some  idea  of  this  importance  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
nearly  seven  hundred  million  pounds  of  the  cured  leaf  is  annually 
used  in  the  United  States  in  the  manufacture  of  cigars,  cigarettes, 
snuff,  and  smoking  and  chewing  tobacco. 

Not  alone  in  this  country,  however,  is  tobacco  an  important  agri- 
cultural crop.  It  is  grown  in  greater  or  less  quantities  in  other 
countries,  particularly  in  certain  regions  in  southeastern  Europe, 
Asia  Minor,  Servia,  the  Levant  generally,  and  in  Greece.  But  the 
origin  of  practically  all  the  varieties  now  grown  throughout  the 
world  for  commercial  purposes  may  be  traced  to  the  continent  of 
America.  Some  two  hundred  years  ago  tobacco  growing  began  in 
the  regions  designated,  seed  from  America  being  used.  This  industry 
was  begun  and  carried  forward  under  Turkish  auspices  and  the  term 
"Turkish  tobacco"  was  early  applied  to  the  product.  The  Turkish 
taste  was  and  is  for  a  very  mild  tobacco,  of  good  aroma  and  bouquet, 
mellow  and  of  good  burning  qualities.  It  is  used  by  the  people  where 
it  is  grown  almost  exclusively  for  cigarettes  and  is  esteemed  all  over 
the  world  for  its  great  delicacy  and  mildness.  Some  twenty-five 
million  pounds  of  this  so-called  Turkish  tobacco  is  annually  imported 
to  this  country  and  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cigarettes. 

Some  twenty-five  to  thirty  years  ago  the  growing  of  Turkish 
tobacco  was  begun  in  California.  Occasional  individuals,  mainly 
Armenians  and  Greeks,  succeeded  in  getting  seed  from  their  native 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         641 

lands.  This  was  a  difficult  matter  because  of  the  embargo  placed 
upon  the  exportation  of  seed,  and  devious  means  of  evasion  were 
employed.  It  seemed  to  satisfy  these  early  importers  that  the  seed 
came  from  known  districts  but  there  was  no  certainty  that  the  seed 
was  from  plants  that  were  true  to  type  and  not  cross-pollinated.  The 
plants  were  given  the  name  of  the  district  from  which  the  seed  came, 
such  as  Samsoon   (Samsoun,  Sampsoon),  Cavalla,  Smyrna,  etc.     As 


Fig.    1. — A   field   of   Turkish   tobacco,   Yolo    County,    California.     Carrying 
crates  in  foreground. 

a  matter  of  fact,  the  plants  grown  showed  no  uniformity  of  type. 
From  the  same  lot  of  seed  would  come  plants  showing  the  rather 
large,  fleshy,  sessile  leaves  of  Samsoon  through  many  variations  to 
the  cleanly  petiolate  leaves  of  Dubaka  (figs.  2-3).  These  early  im- 
porters of  seed  and  growers  of  tobacco  practiced  no  selection  of 
plants  for  seed  purposes  nor  did  they  adequately  guard  against  cross- 
pollination.  The  result  was  a  jumble  of  types,  good,  indifferent, 
and  poor.  Curing  methods  were  faulty  and  with  an  occasional  ex- 
ception the  final  product  was  harsh  and  unusable  save  for  low  grade 
products. 


642  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA- — EXPERIMENT    STATION 

Somewhat  later,  approximately  fifteen  to  twenty  years  ago,  an 
apparently  serious  effort  to  produce  Turkish  tobacco  was  begun  by 
the  American  Tobacco  Company,  the  so-called  Trust.  Their  plant- 
ings, which  were  quite  extensive,  were  made  in  Tulare  County  about 
the  settlement  of  Yettem  and  near  Exeter.  In  this  set  of  plant- 
ings Greek  and  Armenian  families  that  had  been  tobacco  growers 
in  the  old  country  were  placed  upon  the  land  and  they  were  encour- 
aged in  every  way  to  continue  their  hereditary  occupation  as  growers 
and  curers  of  tobacco.  It  was  reported  that  for  some  cause  not 
fully  explained  but  evidently  economic,  this  attempt  was  not  a  great 
success.  On  the  dissolution  of  the  so-called  trust  into  its  compo- 
nent parts  the  interest  in  the  work  languished  and  the  experiment 
ended. 

About  1908  the  so-called  "Exeter  Tobacco  Ranch,"  reputed  to 
be  an  enterprise  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company,  produced  some 
very  fair  tobacco  on  its  properties  near  Exeter.  From  the  same 
source  was  issued  about  1912  an  undated  pamphlet  entitled  "Infor- 
mation on  the  Culture  of  Tobacco  in  California."  In  this  pamphlet 
the  writers  go  very  fully  into  the  matter  of  culture  and  curing. 
They  state  that  "The  final  result  expected  is  that  the  general  farmer 
will,  aided  by  our  experiments,  produce  in  quality,  tobacco  that  will 
interest  manufacturers  and  on  its  own  merits  command  a  profitable 
price  for  the  farmer."  For  unexplained  reasons  the  pamphlet  was 
quickly  withdrawn  from  circulation.  Though  it  had  but  a  limited 
circulation  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  it  undoubtedly  helped  to  stimu- 
late interest  in  this  crop  because  of  the  belief  expressed  in  the  possi- 
bilities of  producing  a  good  grade  of  Turkish  tobacco  in  this  state. 
For  the  last  ten  years  plantings  of  Turkish  tobacco  both  commercial 
and  experimental  have  been  made  in  many  of  the  counties  of  the 
state  and  our  knowledge  of  both  cultural  and  curing  methods  has 
increased  greatly.  The  success  of  the  business  depends  mainly  on 
economic  factors,  though  the  application  of  improved  cultural  and 
curing  methods  is  necessarj^. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  pioneers  in  this  work  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  disposing  of  the  product.  This  is  traceable  to  two  causes. 
In  the  first  place,  owing  to  improper  growing  methods,  failure  to 
select  s^ed-producing  plants  and  hence  mixture  of  types,  poor  and 
incomplete  curing  and  lack  of  aging,  the  product  offered  for  sale 
usually  did  not  compare  favorably  with  the  imported  tobacco.  In 
the  second  place  there  has  been  an  evident  reluctance  on  the  part 
of  manufacturers  of  tobacco  products  to  use  the  California  product 
to  any  great  extent,  even  when  it  is  of  good  quality.     These  two 


BULLETIN   366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         643 

facts  have  caused  many  growers  to  give  up  the  attempt  to  establish 
the  new  industry. 

An  interesting  fact  in  connection  with  this  lack  of  demand  for 
California-grown  tobacco  is  that  it  resulted  in  many  thousands  of 
pounds  of  fair  tobacco  being  stowed  away  in  barns  and  almost  for- 
gotten. The  tobacco  was  forced  by  circumstances  into  a  protracted 
aging  which  resulted  in  great  improvement  of  quality. 


Fig.  2. — Dubaka  leaf  closely  ap- 
proaching Cavalla  type. 


Fig.  3. — Samsoon  leaf, 
sile  character. 


Note  ses- 


Gradually  the  fact  has  become  recognized  that  the  California 
growers  would  have  to  enter  the  manufacturing  field  themselves  to 
obtain  an  adequate  recognition  of  the  good  quality  of  their  product 
and  a  fair  money  return.  Early  in  1922  a  company  was  organized 
to  handle  California-grown  Turkish  tobacco.  This  company,  a 
pioneer  in  a  new  field,  is  now  turning  out  in  the  neighborhood  of 
a  half -million  cigarettes  monthly.     Their  product  is  finding  a  ready 


644  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

sale  in  the  retail  market.  The  enterprise,  though  small,  indicates 
what  can  be  done  and  it  should  be  expanded  largely  but  not  as  a 
private  enterprise.  Undoubtedly  the  consuming  public  appreciates 
the  finished  product  of  our  California  Turkish  tobacco  growers, 
curers  and  manufacturers. 

There  is  naturally  room  for  much  improvement  all  along  the 
line  and  it  is  hoped  this  publication  in  presenting  the  facts  brought 
out  by  experimental  work  and  by  commercial  planters  may  aid  in 
establishing  the  industry  on  a  firm  agricultural  base. 

VARIETIES  AND  IMPROVEMENT  THROUGH  SELECTION 

The  term  "Turkish  tobacco"  applies  to  the  varieties  of  tobacco 
grown  mainly  in  southern  Macedonia,  Turkey,  Asia  Minor,  Servia, 
Greece,  and  the  Levant  generally.  It  is  characteristically  small  leafed 
as  compared  with  Dark  tobacco,  light  leafed  Burley,  Sumatra  seed 
tobacco,  and  Cuban  tobaccos.  These  varieties  are  the  main  reliance 
of  the  tobacco  growers  of  the  eastern  states  and  are  grown  in  the 
eastern  tobacco  sections  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Turkish  type.  The 
usable  leaf  of  the  Turkish  tobacco  grown  in  California  ranges  in 
length  from  two  inches  to  about  ten  inches  and  in  width  from  one 
inch  to  six  inches.  This  range  in  size  is  found  on  the  same  plant 
from  the  largest  leaves  at  the  bottom  to  the  smallest  leaves  at  the 
top  or  blossom  end  of  the  plant  (fig.  4).  By  way  of  comparison 
the  leaf  of  eastern  types  of  tobacco  frequently  reaches  as  great  a 
length  as  twenty  inches  with  a  corresponding  width  of  twelve  inches. 

The  leaf  of  Turkish  tobacco  is  small  and  of  fine  texture.  Fine- 
ness of  grain  and  smallness  of  ribs  are  of  great  importance  in  deter- 
mining the  value  of  Turkish  tobacco.  The  cured  leaf  of  Turkish 
tobacco  is  superior  to  the  leaves  of  other  types  in  the  delicate  quality 
of  its  aroma  and  bouquet. 

The  difference  noted  above  will  serve  to  distinguish  the  leaf  of 
Turkish  type  from  the  leaves  of  other  types  of  tobacco  grown  in  the 
United  States.  In  the  Turkish  group  are  many  variations  which 
can  be  traced  in  California  to  the  soil  and  climatic  conditions  under 
which  the  tobacco  is  grown  and  to  cross-pollination  (fig.  5).  In  the 
first  serious  attempts  to  produce  Turkish  leaf  in  California  some 
twenty-five  to  thirty  years  ago  seed  was  obtained,  as  previously  stated, 
by  various  and  sometimes  devious  ways  from  different  sections  of 
Macedonia,  Turkey,  Asia  Minor,  Servia  and  Greece.  The  principal 
varieties,  so-called,  of  which  seed  was  imported  were  Samsoon  (Samp- 
soon,   Samsoun),   Cavalla,  Bafra,   Dubaka,   and  Smyrna.     It  is  im- 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         645 


Fig.  4. — Sun  cured  leaves.  1-2,  sand  leaves;  3-4,  basma;  5-6-7,  gubec;  8-9, 
ooch-alte;  10-11,  ooch.  The  names  are  those  used  to  designate  character 
of  leaf  and  position  on  plant  "ooch"  being  the  highest. 


646  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

portant  to  note  that  these  names  indicate  districts  where  the  leaf 
is  grown  and  cured  and,  as  we  now  know,  do  not  mean  distinct  varieties 
of  tobacco.  Any  of  these  varieties  may  change  in  character  to  some 
extent  if  the  district  to  which  it  is  brought  differs  from  the  district 
in  which  it  was  originally  grown  in  soil  or  climate  or  cultural  methods, 
or  if  cross-pollination  occurs.  Further,  even  when  the  exchange  of 
seed  is  merely  from  one  district  to  another,  the  product  will  gradu- 
ally assume  other  characters  than  those  of  the  district  where  it  was 
originally  grown.  This  sensitiveness  of  the  Turkish  tobacco  plant  to 
its  environment  and  to  the  care  it  receives  is  very  marked  and  to- 
gether with  cross-pollination  has  resulted  in  the  jumble  of  types 
grown  in  California.  Indeed  there  is  not  now  to  be  found  here  any 
considerable  quantity  of  any  of  the  so-called  varieties  noted  above, 
but  each  district  in  the  state  where  Turkish  tobacco  has  been  grown 
has  developed  a  type  of  its  own  differing  materially  from  the  orig- 
inal. In  some  cases  this  variation  has  resulted  in  improvement,  in 
others  in  deterioration. 

The  grower  of  tobacco  should  know  the  local  conditions  and  be 
prepared  to  meet  them  by  developing  suitable  variations  of  high 
quality.  Experiments  made  by  Shamel2  with  the  tobaccos  of  the 
Atlantic  states  showed  great  virility  and  viability  in  seed  from  self- 
pollinated  flowers.  The  desirable  features,  if  such  were  present,  were 
transmitted  through  the  seed,  as  were  the  undesirable  features.  This 
teaches  that  by  means  of  proper,  well  directed  seed  selection  a  plant 
of  high  quality  can  be  developed  and  maintained.  Shamel 's  method 
was,  briefly,  as  follows: 

First,  Selection. — Plants  that  show  the  characters  desired  by  the 
grower  should  be  chosen  while  growing  in  the  field.  Size  of  leaf; 
color  of  leaf  at  tip  as  ripening  approaches;  fineness  of  leaf  texture 
(a  thick,  fleshy  leaf  is  not  satisfactory  when  dealing  with  Turkish 
tobacco)  ;  small,  fine  veins  or  ribs;  early  maturity;  comparative 
absence  of  suckers  growing  out  of  the  plant  at  leaf  bases;  all  these 
items  should  be  considered  when  choosing  or  selecting  plants  as  seed 
producers.  The  selected  plants  should  be  well  marked  so  that  when 
priming  begins  the  leaf  pickers  will  allow  their  leaves  to  remain  on 
the  plant. 

Second,  Isolation. — The  grower  should  watch  these  selected  plants 
closely  and  when  the  blossom  panicle  forms  should  carefully  cut  off 
one  or  two  whorls  of  leaves  immediately  below  the  beginning  flowers. 


sShamel,    Archibald    T).    The    Improvement    of    Tobacco    by    Breeding    and 
Selection.     Year  Boole  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  1904,  pp.  435-452. 


BULLETIN   366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         647 

The  operator  should  provide  himself  with  a  number  of  paper 
bags  of  the  kind  that  when  open  the  bottom  assumes  an  angular 
roof-like  form.  As  soon  as  the  first  blossom  shows  color  the  panicle 
should  be  covered  with  a  paper  bag.  This  should  be  brought  to- 
gether about  the  plant  below  the  blossoms  and  lightly  tied  so  as  to 
exclude  bees  and  other  pollen  bearing  insects.     These  plants  should 


Dubo-Aa.    x  Sa 


Fig.  5. — Hybrids,  Samsoon  x  Dubaka.     Occasional  desirable 
types  are  thus  produced. 

be  watched  carefully  and  the  paper  bags  occasionally  raised  slightly 
and  retied  so  that  the  blossoms  may  have  ample  room  for  expansion. 
The  leaves  should  not  be  removed  from  the  seed  plants,  and  suckers 
should  be  pinched  out  as  soon  as  they  appear,  as  the  full  strength 
of  the  plant  should  go  into  seed  production. 

Though  the  tobacco  plant  is  a  prolific  producer  of  seed,  as  many 
as  1000  to  1500  seeds  maturing  to  each  capsule,  still  a  comparatively 
large  number  of  plants  should  be  selected  so  that  there  will  be  no 
possibility  of  shortage  of  seed  for  the  next  year's  planting.     Ripeness 


648  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

is  determined  by  the  capsules  turning  brown  and  brittle.  When 
this  stage  has  been  attained  the  capsules  can  be  removed  green  or 
unripe  ones  being  discarded,  placed  in  a  bag,  and  the  bags  should 
be  of  muslin,  close- woven,  and  without  holes.  The  partly  filled  bags 
should  be  hung  in  a  cool,  dry,  well  ventilated  place  until  the  cap- 
sules break  easily.  Then  the  bags,  tightly  closed,  can  be  beaten 
with  a  padded  paddle  so  as  to  thoroughly  break  up  the  capsules 
and  thus  liberate  the  seed.  The  whole  contents  of  the  bag  can  then 
be  poured  out  on  a  sieve  of  rather  small  mesh  and  the  loose  seed 
sifted  into  some  sort  of  container.  The  seed  is  now  ready  for  dry 
storage  until  seeding  time  comes  again.  If  the  seed  is  intended  for 
sale  it  should  be  cleaned  by  repeated  screening  in  a  light  draft.  Care 
must  be  taken  not  to  make  this  too  strong  as  the  seed  can  be  easily 
blown  away.  In  some  cases  seed  is  cleaned  by  pouring  it  into  water. 
The  chaff  and  light  seeds  float  while  the  good  seed  sinks.  If  this 
process  is  followed,  the  water,  chaff,  and  light  seed  should  be  poured 
off  as  soon  as  possible  and  the  good  seed  drained  and  dried  in  the 
shade.  Unless  the  seed  is  to  be  used  immediately  the  drying  should 
be  very  carefully  done  as  damp  seed  soon  moulds. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  persistance  of  type  in  self -pollinated, 
selected  Cuban  tobacco  is  emphasized  by  the  studies  of  Hasselbring3 
who  finds  that  environment  has  little  if  anything  to  do  with  the 
breaking  up  of  types.  This  does  not  seem  to  coincide  with  our  Calif- 
ornia field  experience. 

The  breaking-up  of  type  when  cross-pollination  occurs  is  noted 
in  the  studies  of  Calif  ornia-grown  •  tobacco  made  by  Setchell,  Good- 
speed,  and  Clausen.4  All  of  this  seems  to  emphasize  the  necessity 
for  selection. 

By  means  of  careful  selection,  isolation,  and  care  of  the  seed  the 
planter  should  be  able  to  develop  plants  that  give  a  high  grade 
product  uniformly  throughout  his  plantation.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  apparently  extreme  care  pays. 

sHeinrich  Hasselbring  tvpes  of  Cuban  Tobacco.  The  Botanical  Gazette, 
(The  University  of  Chicago),  vol.  53,  No.  2,  February,  1912,  pp.  113-126, 
plates  IV-X. 

*  Setchell,  W.  A.,  Goodspeed,  T.  H.,  and  Clausen,  K.  E.,  Inheritance  in 
Nicotiana  tabacum,  Univ.  Calif.  Publ.  Bot.,  vol.  5.  pp.  457-582,  2  figures  in 
text,  plants  55-85,  April  14,  1922. 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         649 


CLIMATE 

The  climatic  conditions  of  the  valleys  of  the  Sacramento  and  the 
San  Joaquin  rivers  have  been  found  to  be  only  fairly  satisfactory 
for  tobacco  growing.  While  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  ex- 
tremely high  temperature  sometimes  experienced  in  these  valleys, 
together  with  the  lack  of  atmospheric  humidity,  render  the  task 
of  producing  a  good  tobacco  difficult,  still  fairly  good  results  have 
been   obtained   in   Placer,    (fig.    6)    Sutter,   Yolo,    Sacramento,    San 


Fig.  6. — A  good  quality  of  hydrid  leaf  grown  in  Placer  County,  California. 

Joaquin,  Stanislaus,  Fresno,  Tulare,  and  other  valley  counties.  Fair 
grades  of  tobacco  have  been  grown  in  San  Diego,  San  Benito,  Los 
Angeles,  Santa  Cruz,  and  Contra  Costa  counties.  An  exceedingly 
good  grade  of  leaf  has  been  grown  and  cured  in  Napa  County. 
The  counties  noted  exhibit  a  considerable  range  of  climate,  yet  fairly 
satisfactory  results  have  been  obtained  in  each  case.  The  adaptability 
of  the  tobacco  plant  to  various  climates  as  here  seen  is  very  marked. 
However,  the  tobacco  plant  is  very  sensitive  to  sharp  temperature 
changes  between  day  and  night.  Such  changes  are  very  marked  in 
our  great  valleys  and  the  condition  is  undesirable.     In  the  foothill 


650  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

sections  bordering  these  valleys  such  temperature  changes  are  not 
so  marked  and  the  conditions  are  to  that  extent  more  favorable. 
Regions  where  the  heat  of  the  day  and  the  cold  of  the  night  are 
modified  by  the  influence  of  the  ocean  offer  the  best  conditions  in 
this  respect. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  great  valleys 
are  conducive  to  rank  growth  of  the  plants  and  a  not  wholly  satis- 
factory leaf.  These  conditions  make  the  work  of  curing  much  more 
difficult  than  when  more  moderate  heat  conditions  prevail.  Further, 
because  of  its  rather  soft,  fleshy  character  the  leaf  may  sunburn. 
This  danger  is  more  imminent  as  the  leaf  approaches  maturity  and 
greater  change  is  going  on  in  the  tissue.  In  sections  where  some 
fog  occurs,  where  there  is  some  precipitation  of  dew  at  night,  and 
yet  where  there  is  ample  sunlight  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  the  cli- 
matic conditions  more  nearly  meet  the  needs  of  the  tobacco  plants. 
The  restrictions  of  climatic  conditions  are  plainly  shown  in  the  tobacco 
plantings  in  various  parts  of  this  state.  The  quality  of  leaf,  Sam- 
soon  and  Dubaka  and  certain  crosses  between  these  (figs.  2,  3,  5), 
grown  in  the  lower  Napa  valley  where  the  favorable  climatic  condi- 
tions mentioned  above  prevail,  is  particularly  fine.  The  aroma  and 
bouquet  while  quite  marked  are  not  harsh  nor  strong.  Sun  curing 
is  comparatively  easy  and  the  danger  of  sunburn  is  at  a  minimum. 

Enough  is  now  known  to  prove  that  the  climatic  conditions  best 
suited  to  tobacco  are  found  where  the  ocean  influences  are  plainly 
felt.  Yet  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  big  valleys  of  the  state 
are  worthless  for  this  crop.  The  fair  product  coming  from  them  and 
especially  from  their  foothills  is  proof  that  Turkish  tobacco  can 
be  successfully  grown  in  them.  The  sensitiveness  of  the  tobacco 
plant  to  its  environment  and  its  adherence  to  type  under  given  condi- 
tions make  it  especially  easy  for  the  grower  to  develop  varieties 
suited  to  the  climatic  conditions  of  his  own  ranch.  The  observa- 
tion regarding  the  influence  of  the  ocean  is  in  line  with  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Turkish  tobacco  sections  of  southeastern  Europe  and 
Asia  Minor  where  some  atmospheric  humidity  is  the  rule.  Garner 
states:  "In  the  portion  of  southern  Macedonia  around  the  port  of 
Cavalla  and  other  nearby  towns  and  in  the  Smyrna,  Trebizond  and 
Samsoun  districts  of  Asia  Minor  are  grown  the  finest  cigarette  to- 
baccos in  the  world."5  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  climates  of 
the  districts  mentioned  are  modified  by  the  influences  of  sea  and 


sGarner,  W.  W.,  Physiologist  in  charge  of  tobacco  investigations,  Bureau 
of  Plant  Industry,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  article  on  To- 
bacco in  Encyclopedia  Americana,  vol.  26,  pp.  658-665. 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         651 

fog.  These  regions  closely  approximate  the  climatic  conditions  found 
in  the  small  coastal  valleys  of  California.  From  the  evidence  in 
hand  there  are  undoubtedly  very  large  areas  in  the  big  valleys  where 
a  fair  grade  of  leaf  can  be  produced  and*  also  much  territory  in 
smaller  valleys  where  a  most  excellent  product  can  be  and  is  being 
turned  out. 

SOILS 

A  very  wide  range  of  soils  can  be  successfully  used  for  growing 
Turkish  tobacco.  Good  crops  have  been  noted  on  even  such  recal- 
citrant soils  as  the  adobes.  Because  of  the  difficulty  of  properly 
working  adobe  soils  and  the  coarseness  of  the  leaf  produced  on  them, 
the  adobes  should  in  most  cases  be  avoided.  A  further  objection  to 
adobe  soils  is  found  in  the  difficulty  experienced  at  transplanting 
time.  It  is  very  difficult  to  set  the  young  and  tender  tobacco  plants 
in  the  adobes  and  a  poor  stand  frequently  results.  The  plant,  how- 
ever, makes  a  wonderfully  strong  growth  when  once  it  has  taken 
hold,  provided  the  moisture  content  of  the  soil  has  been  kept  at  the 
best  by  good  cultural  methods.  Indeed  the*  objection  is  often  made 
to  the  adobe  soils  that  the  tobacco  plant  makes  too  rank  a  growth 
on  them. 

In  order  with  the  adobes  come  the  clay  loams.  These,  too,  are 
hard  to  work  to  a  fine  tilth  but  when  so  worked  are  excellent  for 
Turkish  tobacco,  giving  good  yields  of  an  excellent  leaf  provided 
the  climatic  conditions  are  right.  With  these  clay  loam  soils  care- 
ful methods  of  preparation  are  necessary  to  secure  the  best  results. 

The  loams  on  the  whole  may  be  considered  as  good  soils  for  this 
crop.  They  are  usually  fairly  easy  to  work  down  to  the  necessary 
fineness,  are  retentive  of  moisture,  and  are  usually  well  supplied  with 
the  elements  necessary  for  plant  growth.  The  yield  of  leaf  on  the 
loams  is  usually  excellent  and  the  quality  is  good. 

Sandy  loams  are  usually  very  easy  to  work  and  their  ability  to 
retain  moisture  is  excellent.  The  quality  of  leaf  produced  on  them 
is  very  good,  of  fine  aroma  and  satisfactory  color.  The  yield  is 
not  so  great  ordinarily  as  on  the  previously  mentioned  soils. 

The  very  sandy  soils  are  light  producers,  easy  to  work  but  poorly 
retentive  of  moisture.  A  leaf  of  very  fine  quality  is  grown  on  soils 
of  this  type  and  though  a  light  tonnage  may  be  expected  on  the 
whole  they  are  to  be  classed  as  thoroughly  good  soils  for  Turkish 
tobacco. 

The  silts  which  have  a  tendency  to  run  together  and  puddle 
are,  if  tilth   can  be  maintained,   fairly  satisfactory   for   this   crop. 


652  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

Their  variability  of  structure  and  character  make  them  hard  soils 
to  manage  and  Turkish  tobacco  crops  on  such  soils  are  apt  to  show 
much  variation  in  style  of  leaf,  and  hence  are  difficult  to  harvest 
properly.  Nevertheless  •  good  tonnages  have  been  reported  on  the 
silt  soils  of  the  great  valleys  of  the  state. 

The  most  satisfactory  soil  for  Turkish  tobacco  is  a  sandy  loam 
with  a  considerable  admixture  of  wash  gravel  and  broken  rock  con- 
taining a  good  quantit}^  of  lime.  Such  soils  may  be  low  in  their 
nitrogen  content  but  this  is  an  advantage  so  far  as  the  tobacco  plant 
is  concerned.  Turkish  tobacco  grown  on  such  soils  would  normally 
be  of  high  quality  with  excellent  leaves  which,  when  properly  cured, 
develop  a  fine  aroma  and  bouquet.  These  soils  would  be  considered 
of  rather  low  agricultural  value  for  other  field  crops  or  for  orchard 
purposes.  Of  this  type  are  the  best  soils  for  tobacco  production  in 
the  Levant,  Macedonia,  Greece,  and  other  countries.  Such  soils 
are  to  be  found  in  our  Sierra  foothills  and  on  the  valley  edges  of  the 
coast  range  of  mountains.  They  at  present  maintain  a  meager  agri- 
culture but  with  intelligent  care  on  the  part  of  the  grower  could  be 
made  to  produce  remunerative  crops  of  Turkish  tobacco.  It  should 
be  noted  that  the  main  plantings  of  tobacco  have  so  far  been  made 
mostly  under  the  climatic  conditions  of  our  big  valleys  and  on  com- 
paratively heavy  soils.  The  result  has  been  a  sacrifice  of  quality 
in  favor  of  quantity. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Turkish  tobacco  is  very  adaptable  to 
various  soils  and  that  so  far  as  this  item  is  concerned  can  be  grown 
over  a  wide  range  of  territory.  But  its  character  is  very  sensitive 
to  varying  soil  conditions  and  when  grown  on  one  type  of  soil  pro- 
duces a  leaf  that  may  differ  strongly  from  the  leaf  grown  on  another. 
The  variations  will  show  in  the  size  and  texture  of  the  leaf,  in  the 
coarseness  or  fineness  of  the  midrib,  in  aroma,  and  in  burning  qualities. 

It  is  therefore  uncertain  what  the  character  of  the  leaf  will  be 
on  a  given  soil  until  the  crop  has  been  grown,  harvested  and  cured. 
Commercial  plantings  that  have  been  under  observation  show  that 
a  given  soil  will,  with  occasional  rests  and  rotations,  develop  uni- 
formly a  characteristic  type  of  leaf  provided  a  rational  system  of 
seed  selection  has  been  followed. 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  LAND 

Turkish  tobacco  growing  is  a  highly  specialized  form  of  agriculture 
and  requires  careful  methods  of  work  at  all  stages.  This  is  as  nec- 
essary in  the  matter  of  land  preparation  as  in  all  the  other  operations 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         653 

together.  The  soil  should  be  well  supplied  with  decaying  organic 
matter.  A  good  top  dressing  of  stable,  cow  yard,  or  sheep  manure 
or  of  chicken  droppings  should  be  given  the  land  in  September  before 
the  first  rains.  Lacking  these  organic  manures  a  good  summer  cover 
crop  should  be  grown  on  the  intended  tobacco  field.  After  the  first 
rains  the  field  should  be  plowed  deep,  turning  under  the  manure 
dressing  or  the  cover  crop  so  that  the  material  is  well  worked  into 
the  soil.  An  old  alfalfa  field  that  has  been  pastured  for  several 
seasons  can  be  advantageously  used,  provided  the  alfalfa  has  been 
thoroughly  killed  out  in  the  plowing  process.  Such  a  field  usually 
is  well  supplied  with  organic  matter  at  and  close  to  the  surface.  The 
plowing  must  be  well  done  and  no  "cut  and  cover"  work  should 
be  tolerated.  It  should  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  good  careful 
work  in  preparation  saves  much  labor  in  working  the  land  when  the 
crop  is  in. 

Following  this  first  plowing  the  land  should  be  allowed  to  lie 
unworked  for  from  six  weeks  to  two  months.  At  the  end  of  this 
period  the  land  should  be  gone  over  with  a  weed  knife  and  such 
weeds  as  have  appeared  destroyed.  If  the  field  is  an  old  alfalfa 
patch  a  good  heavy  hoe  should  be  used  to  destroy  such  of  the  alfalfa 
plants  as  were  not  killed  by  the  original  plowing.  It  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  more  weeds  and  foul  growths  that  are  destroyed 
at  this  time  the  easier  will  be  the  work  of  keeping  the  field  clean 
when  the  tobacco  plants  are  set  and  growing.  Again  the  field  should 
be  allowed  to  remain  undisturbed  and  unworked  until  spring.  At 
this  time  when  danger  of  frost  is  about  over  the  field  should  be  put 
in  a  state  of  fine  tilth  by  either  plowing  to  a  depth  of  about  four 
inches  and  then  lightly  harrowing  it  or  by  going  over  it  with  a 
disc  cultivator  two  ways.  Treatment  such  as  this  should  put  the 
land  in  excellent  condition.  Of  course  the  treatment  of  the  soil  will 
have  to  vary  from  the  above  ideal  with  the  varying  seasonal  climatic 
conditions  but  the  planter  should  come  as  near  to  it  as  possible. 
Not  only  does  such  careful  work  greatly  reduce  the  labor  of  weed 
control  but  it  increases  the  moisture  retention  possibilities  of  the  soil. 
This  latter  item  is  one  of  very  considerable  importance  as  the  tobacco 
plant  is  a  great  user  of  water  and  the  transpiration  of  water  vapor 
through  the  leaves  is  very  considerable. 

The  field  then  being  in  a  state  of  good  tilth,  low  back-furrows 
should  be  run  about  four  feet  apart  north  and  south  the  length  of 
the  field.  A  light  harrow  should  be  run  over  these  back-furrows 
lengthwise.  This  should  leave  the  back-fnrrowed  portion  of  the 
field  slightly  higher  than  the  rest  and  on  this  raised  portion  or  low 


654  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

ridge  the  young  plants  should  be  set  about  two  feet  apart.  This 
arrangement  allows  easy  cultivation  between  the  rows,  and,  if  irri- 
gation is  practiced,  the  ridged  condition  in  a  measure  protects  the 
tobacco  plants  against  direct  contact  with  the  water. 

The  width  between  the  plants  in  the  rows  will  in  a  measure  have 
to  be  determined  by  the  character  of  the  soil.  The  general  rule  that 
the  richer  the  soil  the  closer  should  be  the  plants  in  the  row  holds 
good. 

CULTIVATION  AND  IRRIGATION 

The  careful  preparation  of  the  land  makes  the  soil  retentive  of 
moisture.  The  great  expanse  of  leaf  surface  presented  in  a  field 
of  Turkish  tobacco  that  is  growing  well  means  a  very  considerable 
transpiration  of  water  vapor  and  so  every  effort  must  be  made  to 
avoid  further  loss  of  soil  moisture  through  evaporation  (fig.  1).  The 
field  should  be  gone  over  with  a  light  cultivator  at  rather  frequent 
intervals.  This  keeps  the  soil  in  good  tilth,  destroys  weeds,  and 
thus  overcomes  transpiration  of  water  vapor  through  the  weed  leaves. 
The  space  between  the  plants  in  the  row  should  be  gone  over  with  a 
hoe  occasionally  to  kill  out  weeds  that  may  have  started  there.  By 
this  careful  work  a  better  chance  is  given  the  tobacco  roots  to  develop 
and  to  use  the  nutrient  elements  of  the  soil.  The  tobacco  plant 
sends  out  its  main  feeding  roots  laterally  and  fairly  close  to  the 
surface,  hence  the  optimum  of  soil  moisture  conditions  must  be  main- 
tained in  that  region.  This  closeness  to  the  surface  of  the  feeding 
roots  further  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  shallow,  light  cultivation 
and  hoeing.     Serious  setbacks  will  result  if  these  roots  are  destroyed. 

In  occasional  cases,  irrigation  may  become  necessary,  though  it 
is  to  be  avoided  if  possible.  An  index  of  the  possible  necessity  of 
irrigation  is  to  be  found  in  the  condition  of  the  plants  themselves. 
In  the  early  morning  the  leaves  will  be  upright  and  turgid  owing 
to  the  fact  that  there  will  have  been  but  little  transpiration  of  water 
vapor  during  the  night.  If  during  the  forenoon,  say  up  to  ten 
o  'clock,  the  leaves  wilt  it  is  fairly  certain  there  is  not  enough  moisture 
in  the  soil  and  irrigation  should  be  resorted  to.  On  the  other  hand 
if  wilting  does  not  occur  till  well  on  in  the  afternoon  the  soil  mois- 
ture condition  may  be  considered  good.  Irrigation  of  tobacco  plants 
should  not  be  done  unless  there  is  a  positive  need  of  water.  Care 
must  be  exercised  to  keep  the  water  from  coming  in  contact  with 
the  plant  and  it  should  be  applied  sparingly,  as  an  excess  of  water 
is  liable  to  cause  root  rot  and  other  troubles.  Further,  if  the  plants 
get  too  much  water  they  will  become  spindling  and  weedy ;  the  leaves 
will  become  very  light  colored  and  thin,  with  very  poor  aroma  and 


BULLETIN   366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         655 


flavor  (fig.  7),  and  will  develop  an  over-coarse  mid-rib.  In  short  a 
leaf  of  poor  quality  will  result  from  the  improper  and  excessive 
use  of  water.  To  properly  apply  irrigation  water  a  shallow  furrow 
should  be  turned  in  the  center  of  the  rows.  A  small  head  of  water 
should  be  run  down  this  furrow,  care  being  taken  that  the  water  does 
not  escape  from  the  furrow  and  form  puddles  about  the  plants.     In 


Fig.    7. — Over-irrigated.     Note   thinness   of   leaf   and   coarse   mid-rib. 

the  well  prepared  field,  water  should  seep  laterally  and  downward 
fairly  rapidly.  A  good  supply  of  water  can  thus  be  evenly  dis- 
tributed through  the  field.  As  soon  as  it  is  possible  to  get  on  the 
ground  after  irrigation,  the  cultivators  should  be  run  over  the  land 
so  that  no  baking  or  cracking  will  occur.  Also  the  interspaces,  where 
the  cultivator  has  not  broken  the  ground,  should  be  well  hoed.  Water 
conservation  in  the  soil  must  be  accomplished  if  the  best  results 
with  the  plants  are  to  be  obtained. 


656  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 


THE  SEED  BED 

Great  care  must  be  exercised  in  preparing  the  seed  bed  for  start- 
ing the  plants  later  to  be  transplanted  to  the  fields.  The  soil  of  the 
bed  should  be  a  light  sandy  loam  well  worked  several  times  so  that 
it  will  be  in  a  fine  state  of  tilth.  As  near  the  middle  of  March  as 
weather  conditions  permit  the  ground  to  be  used  as  a  seed  bed  should 
be  trenched  to  a  depth  of  about  fourteen  inches  and  to  a  width  of 
some  four  feet  (fig.  8).  For  convenience  the  bed  should  be  made 
about  ten  feet  long.  Fresh  stable  manure  should  be  placed  in  the 
trench  so  that  when  it  is  well  tamped  down  the  manure  layer  will 
be  six  or  seven  inches  thick.  Fill  in  the  well  worked  bed  soil  above 
the  manure  layer.  Then  build  sides  and  ends  of  ten  inch  boards  to 
enclose  the  bed,  filling  in  soil  so  that  the  top  of  the  bed  will  be  about 
two  or  three  inches  higher  than  the  surrounding  land.  Provide  a 
frame  of  wood  strips  that  will  easily  fit  over  the  bed  sides  and  ends 
and  cover  this  with  light  sheeting.  This  cover  should  be  provided 
with  cross  pieces  so  that  the  cloth  will  not  sag  down  to  the  plants 
when  they  are  growing.  The  manure  layer  furnishes,  through  the 
process  of  decay,  a  considerable  amount  of  bottom  heat  and  when 
temperature  conditions  demand  it,  the  cover  can  be  kept  in  place 
and  the  whole  interior  kept  warm  and  in  good  condition  to  foster 
growth. 

Some  planters  sterilize  the  bed  soil  by  burning  quantities  of  straw 
over  it,  thus  destroying  many  weed  seeds.  In  the  tobacco  sections 
of  the  eastern  states  this  method  of  seed  destroying  is  common.  In 
our  observations,  firing  the  bed  soil  is  not  the  best  practice  as  it 
burns  out  the  organic  matter  in  the  soil.  This  makes  the  earth  puddle 
and  crust  easily,  which  is  a  condition  that  should  be  avoided.  In 
the  dark  tobacco,  Burley  and  Sumatra  seed  sections,  burning  the 
seed  beds  and  also  steaming  them  is  done  to  destroy  weed  seed. 
These  processes  are  not  necessary  under  our  California  conditions 
provided  the  seed  bed  soil  has  been  under  preparation  for  some 
time  before  seeding  is  done  and  all  weed  growth  has  started  and 
been  destroyed. 

'  The  preparation  of  the  seed  bed  being  completed  and  the  last 
light  raking  done,  the  planter  should  be  prepared  to  do  his  seeding. 
The  tobacco  seed  is  extremely  small,  ranging  not  more  than  one 
millimeter  in  length,  and  one  rounded  teaspoonful  is  ample  to  seed 
a  bed  of  the  size  above  described  and  this  in  turn  will,  if  germina- 
tion is  good,  furnish  between  five  and  six  thousand  plants  or  enough 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,   CURING,    MARKETING         657 

to  set  one  acre  of  land.  The  seed  is  broadcasted  in  the  bed  soil. 
Some  growers  mix  the  seed  with  four  or  five  times  the  bulk  of  corn- 
meal  which  helps  to  an  even  distribution  of  the  seed.  There  is  a 
danger  in  this  practice  as  under  the  bed  conditions  of  heat  and 
moisture  molds  are  likely  to  develop  and  seriously  injure  the  young 
plants.  In  the  eastern  tobacco  growing  sections  and  in  a  few  iso- 
lated cases  in  California  powdered  gypsum  has  been  used  instead 
of  cornmeal  at  the  rate  of  four  times  as  much  gypsum  as  seed  by 


HOT    BEZO,      CROSS   3ECTJ0N 

Fig.    8. — Hot   bed    showing    detail    of    construction 


«Scfl/e,^"--  tfoot 


volume.  This  medium  for  carrying  the  seed  is  very  satisfactory  as 
its  color  affords  a  ready  index  as  to  the  evenness  of  seed  distribution, 
and  though  the  amount  of  gypsum  is  minute  it  seems  to  have  a  stimu- 
lating effect  on  the  seedlings.  After  the  seed  has  been  broadcasted 
it  should  be  lightly  brushed  in  and  the  soil  somewhat  compacted 
with  a  board.  The  bed  should  be  sprinkled  with  water,  not  drenched, 
and  the  moisture  supply  should  be  kept  at  the  surface  until  the 
plants  start. 

Much  care  must  be  exercised  at  this  time  both  in  the  matter  of 
watering  and  in  that  of  ventilating  the  bed.  With  too  much  humidity 
and  warmth  the  young  plants  may  be  killed  in  great  numbers  by 
"damping  off,"  a  fungous  disease  that  attacks  them  at  or  about 
the  ground  surface.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  bed  is  overventi- 
lated  and  kept  too  cool  germination  may  be  seriously  delayed.     Some 


658  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

growers  as  a  precautionary  measure  dust  the  beds  lightly  with  finely 
powdered  sulfur  and  no  doubt  this  to  some  degree  overcomes  danger 
of  ''damping  off." 

The  germination  of  tobacco  seed  is  usually  slow  and  in  some  cases 
the  seed  may  not  start  at  all.  It  is  decidedly  a  good  plan  to  have 
the  seed  tested  for  germination.6 

In  three  trial  tests  made  to  determine  the  germination  power  of 
Turkish  tobacco  seed  grown  in  California  and  purchased  in  the 
open  market  the  results  were  as  follows:  (The  length  of  test  with  each 
lot  was  15  days.) 

Lot  1    Germination  82.5   per  cent 
Lot  2  84.0 

Lot  3  84.5 

These  may  be  considered  good  tests  and  such  seed  can  be  safely 
used. 

TRANSPLANTING 

All  having  gone  well  with  the  seed  bed  and  the  young  plants 
having  attained  a  height  of  from  two  to  four  inches,  transplanting 
to  the  field  should  begin.  Ordinarily  transplanting  occurs  from  the 
middle  to  the  last  of  April  though  the  exact  time  will  depend  on 
the  advance  of  the  season.  A  careful  study  of  the  work  of  many 
growers  shows  that  a  two-to-four-inch  seedling  is  preferred  as  it 
seems  to  take  hold  better  than  the  larger  plants  when  planted  out 
in  the  field.  The  seed  bed  should  be  loosened  up  carefully  with  a 
spading  fork  and  the  plants  gently  drawn  and  bunched,  roots  to 
roots.  This  work  should  be  done  preferably  on  a  cloudy  day,  and 
in  any  case  the  young  drawn  plants  should  be  kept  moist  and  in  the 
shade  from  the  time  they  are  drawn  until  they  are  planted  in  the 
field.  If  cloudy  weather  does  not  occur  at  planting  time  then  the 
work  should  be  done  in  the  late  afternoon  and  evening. 

From  the  seed  beds,  the  plants  are  taken  to  the  field  in  boxes 
covered  with  wet  sacks.  Planting  may  be  done  by  hand  or  with  a 
horse  drawn  planter.  Greater  success  has  been  reported  from  the 
eastern  tobacco  plantations  when  mechanical  planters  were  used  than 
when  the  work  was  done  by  hand.  If  the  work  is  done  by  hand  the 
operator  should  be  provided  with  a  wooden  dibble  or  with  a  narrow 
bladed  trowel.  With  these  he  makes  the  hole  for  the  young  plant 
and  then  sets  it,  taking  care  that  the  roots  are  worked  downward 
and  that  the  soil  is  well  compacted  about  the  cro.vn  of  the  plant. 


eThis  work  is  done  at  the  seed  testing  laboratory,   State  Department  of 
Agriculture,  Sacramento,  California. 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         659 

The  planters  should  be  followed  immediately  by  a  tank  wagon  of 
some  sort,  and  each  plant  should  receive  about  a  quart  of  water  to 
insure  a  fair  compacting  of  the  earth  about  the  roots  and  to  furnish 
the  young  plant  with  an  ample  supply  of  water  during  the  trying 
time  of  starting  new  roots. 

If  planting  machines  are  used,  the  labor  of  this  operation  is 
greatly  reduced  and  a  more  even  stand  can  be  expected.  Whether 
the  mechanical  planter  is  used  or  the  plants  are  put  out  by  hand, 
the  ridge  made  in  preparation  of  the  land  should  be  followed  care- 
fully. A  man  with  a  hoe  should  follow  the  planter,  adjust  the 
covering  of  the  small  plants,  and  cover  over  wet  places  so  that  no 
baking  of  the  soil  may  occur. 

The  young  Turkish  tobacco  plants  have  good  vitality  and  should 
not  show  the  shock  incident  to  transplanting  for  more  than  a  day 
or  two. 

FIELD  TREATMENT  AND  PICKING 

From  the  time  the  plants  have  begun  to  grow  in  the  field,  con- 
stant care  and  attention  must  be  given  them.  Shallow  cultivation 
must  be  practiced  at  frequent  intervals  to  destroy  weeds  and  thus 
prevent  too  rapid  water  transpiration  from  the  soil  and  so  avoid 
the  necessity  of  irrigation.  Care  must  be  taken  to  pinch  out  the 
suckers  at  the  leaf  bases  as  they  rob  the  plant  of  nutriment  and  so 
detract  from  the  value  of  the  product.  For  this  purpose  the  patch 
must  be  gone  over  every  few  days.  While  removing  suckers,  a  look- 
out for  tobacco  worms  must  be  maintained  and  these  voracious  pests 
destroyed  when  found.  Weeds  must  be  hoed  out  and  in  fact  the 
best  cultural  conditions  maintained.  The  farmer  should  have  the 
best  product  as  his  ideal  and  he  may  be  sure  that  the  plants  will 
respond  to  good  care.  Care  must  be  exercised  not  to  bruise  or  break 
leaves  as  such  leaves  make  a  low  grade  product. 

The  question  as  to  whether  blossoms  should  be  removed  can,  from 
the  evidence  in  hand,  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  By  such  re- 
moval or  topping  as  soon  as  the  panicle  begins  to  form,  the  strength 
and  vitality  of  the  plant  goes  into  leaf  production  and  better 
quality  and  more  uniform  size  of  leaves  is  the  result.  Of  course  the 
blossoms  of  seed  bearing  bearing  plants  will  have  to  be  left  as  ex- 
plained on  pages  644-648. 

If  all  has  gone  well,  in  from  forty-five  to  fifty  days  after  trans- 
planting, the  lowest  leaves  called  'refuse'  will  show  a  slight  yellow- 
ing at  the  tip  and  a  slight  greenish  yellow  spotting  which  indicates 
ripening.  They  are  then  ready  to  be  picked.  Usually  these  'refuse' 
leaves  are  ignored,  though  occasionally  they  are  cured  and  used  in 


660  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA — EXPERIMENT   STATION 

making  insecticides  and  low  grade  tobacco  products.  The  tobacco 
leaves  ripen  in  order  from  the  lowest  to  those  near  the  blossom 
panicle  and  the  pickers  must  go  over  the  field  at  frequent  inter- 
vals so  that  the  leaves  do  not  get  over-ripe.  Picking  of  leaves  must 
be  done  in  the  late  afternoon  and  early  evening  after  the  tempera- 
ture has  fallen  but  before  the  dew  begins  to  fall.  This  work  may 
also  be  done  in  the  morning  after  the  dew  has  disappeared  but  before 
the  heat  of  the  day  is  on.  After  the  picking  of  the  refuse  comes  the 
taking  off  of  the  'sand'  leaves,  the  next  whorl  or  two  above  (fig.  4). 
These  leaves  receive  their  name  from  the  fact  that  they  carry  some 
dust  and  grit  owing  to  their  nearness  to  the  ground.  The  next 
series  above,  usually  of  two  whorls,  is  known  as  'basma. '  Then  comes 
the  series,  usualty  again  of  two  whorls,  known  as  'gubec'  (dubec, 
dubeque,  djubec).  These  leaves  when  properly  taken  and  cor- 
rectly cured  are  of  fine  quality  and  much  sought  for  in  the 
trade.  Next  in  order  comes  the  smaller  leaves  known  as  'Ooch-alte' 
and  '  Ooch. '  These  highest,  smallest  leaves  may  be  not  more  than 
one  inch  long  and  still  be  of  the  best  quality.  There  is  no  arbi- 
trary rule  that  can  be  set  down  to  govern  the  picker  in  his  choice 
of  leaves  for  grades.  Expertness  in  this  comes  only  with  practice. 
Leaves  of  a  given  grade  should  be  kept  together  in  the  picking. 
For  instance  the  picker  taking  basma  leaves  should  not  mix  them 
with  gubec  leaves  even  though  the  latter  may  be  in  condition  to 
pick.  These  should  be  taken  in  a  second  picking.  The  leaves  should 
be  handled  with  care  to  avoid  breakage  as  much  as  possible;  they 
should  be  carried  to  light  packing  cases  (fig.  1)  and  placed  in  these 
in  an  orderly  manner  so  they  may  be  easily  removed  without  dam- 
age. If  the  removal  of  the  blossoms  or  topping  has  been  practiced 
the  difference  in  size  of  leaves  will  not  be  marked. 

FIRST  OPERATIONS  IN  CURING 

The  loosely  filled  packing  cases  are  taken  to  the  barn  or  shed, 
where  stringing  is  done.  This  process  consists  of  threading  the  leaves 
on  linen  or  cotton  strings  with  a  spear  headed  needle.  The  petiole 
of  the  leaf  is  pierced  with  the  needle  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
from  the  end  and  the  leaves  drawn  down  on  the  string.  The  process 
may  be  likened  to  stringing  beads.  Some  care  must  be  exercised  so 
as  not  to  split  the  petiole  or  the  leaf.  The  strings  should  be  eight 
feet  long  and  in  stringing  twelve  inches  should  be  left  clear  for 
tying  purposes  at  each  end.  The  leaves  on  a  string  should  all  face 
the  same  way  and  should  be  so  spaced  as  not  to  touch  when  the  string 
is  stretched  and  the  leaves  hanging  down.     A  quarter  of  an  inch 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,   CURING,    MARKETING         661 

apart  has  been  found  to  be  a  satisfactory  spacing.  Poles  seven 
feet  long  and  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter 
should  be  provided  in  quantity.  The  giant  reed  (Arundo  donax)  is 
used  whenever  obtainable  as  it  makes  strong  yet  light  poles  (front- 
ispiece). When  the  string  is  filled  for  some  six  feet  of  its  length 
the  free  ends  are  tied  to  either  end  of  the  pole,  the  string  being 
stretched  so  that  sagging  down  of  the  leaves  will  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum  when  the  loaded  poles  are  racked.  The  racks  both  in  the 
barn  or  shed  and  those  used  out  of  doors  are  made  so  that  the  free  ends 


Fig.    9. — Small    sun-curing    rack    showing    burlap    covers    removed. 

of  the  poles  will  engage  them  and  the  leaves  on  the  strings  hang 
down.  A  string  should  be  tied  in  such  a  way  as  to  relieve  the  sag 
at  the  pole  center.  The  poles  with  their  leaf -laden  strings  are  then 
racked  in  a  shed  or  barn  with  small  free  air  spaces  between  the 
strings  and  left  in  a  closed  room  for  from  twenty-four  to  forty- 
eight  hours  for  their  first  wilting  (figs.  10-11).  There  must  be 
good  ventilation  in  the  shed  or  barn  while  this  process  is  going  on 
so  that  the  air  about  the  leaves  will  not  became  excessively  humid. 
Too  quick  wilting  or  on  the  other  hand  too  much  moisture  at  this 
time  will  detract  from  the  quality  of  the  leaf.  The  end  of  the  first 
process  will  be  indicated  by  the  leaves  turning  a  greenish  yellow  to 
lemon  yellow   in  color. 

After  wilting,  the  strings  of  leaves  on  poles  are  removed  to  a 
larger  room  or  barn  and  allowed  to  remain  there  for  twenty -four 
hours  or   an  til  all  the  moisture  has  disappeared.     They   are  then 


662  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

removed  to  outside  racks  (frontispiece  and  fig.  9).  These  racks 
are  best  placed  over  stony  ground.  If  such  ground  is  not  available 
the  best  plan  is  to  haul  rock,  either  wash  gravel  of  fair  size,  or 
broken  rock,  to  the  rack  site  so  that  the  curing  leaf  may  hang  over 
stony  ground.  As  even  a  temperature  as  possible  should  be  kept 
about  the  leaves.  This  is  promoted  by  the  rocky  floor  which  takes 
in  heat  during  the  day  and  slowly  gives  it  up  at  night.  The  poles 
of  leaves  can  be  racked  overnight  in  the  barn  and  this  perhaps  is 
better  than  leaving  them  outdoors  over  the  rock  floors 

Covers  of  burlap  somewhat  larger  than  the  area  covered  by  the 
racks  should  be  provided  (fig.  9).  These  may  be  used  to  shade  the 
racks  of  leaves  if  the  sun  heat  becomes  excessive,  say  about  80°  F. 
The  burlap  covers  should  be  placed  over  the  racks  if  fog  occurs  and 
should  certainly  be  in  position  shortly  before  sunset.  They  should 
hang  down  at  the  ends  and  sides  of  the  racks  as  far  as  the  leaf 
tips  do.  They  are  necessary  in  properly  starting  the  curing  of  the 
leaf,  as  they  tend  to  retain  radiated  heat  from  the  rock  bottom  and 
exclude  fog  or  excess  of  dew.  They  are  also  quite  indispensible  as 
shade  producers  if  the  sun's  heat  becomes  excessive.  It  may  be 
necessary  to  take  them  off  or  put  them  on  several  times  a  day  to 
get  the  best  results. 

CURING  BARNS 

For  convenience  and  economy  in  handling  the  tobacco  during  the 
stages  prior  to  fermentation  and  grading,  especially  designed  barns 
are  desirable.  Figures  10  and  11  are  suggestive  of  how  such  barns 
should  be  constructed.  Figure  10  shows  the  exterior  of  the  barn  in 
outline.  In  this  figure  G  is  a  double  door  affording  ingress  for 
wagons  while  a  similar  door  is  placed  at  the  rear  allowing  egress; 
H  is  a  double  window  large  enough  to  allow  the  passing  in  of  racks 
of  strings  of  tobacco  over  tracks  like  those  used  in  prune  curing 
yards  and  C  is  the  room  for  preliminary  wilting  as  described  on 
page  661. 

In  figure  11  is  the  same  barn  with  the  front  removed  to  show  the 
interior  arrangement.  In  this  figure  A  indicates  the  door  or  en- 
trance; B,  a  sorting  platform;  C,  the  wilting  room;  D,  trusses  to 
support  the  garlands  (fig.  17)  ;  E,  controllable  ventilators;  and  F-F, 
openings  for  ventilation.  In  a  barn  of  this  type  the  rapidity  of 
curing  can  be  controlled  as  well  as  the  humidity,  by  a  careful  use 
of  the  ventilators. 

This  barn  also  obviates  the  necessity  of  curing  the  tobacco  out- 
side at  night.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  give  the  tobacco  even 
temperature  day  and  night  by  the  burlap  covering  method. 


BULLETIN   366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         663 

In  the  use  of  this  barn,  all  the  doors  and  openings  are  left  open 
until  about  4  P.  M.  As  the  temperature  outside  begins  to  fall,  the 
tobacco  in  the  process  of  sun  curing  outside  during  the  day  is  rolled 
into  the  barn  over  the  tracks  and  the  barn  shut  tight.  Heat  col- 
lected in  the  barn  during  the  day  will  be  preserved  and  a  nearly 
uniform  temperature  between  day  and  night  insured. 

This  style  of  a  barn  was  developed  by  Alfred  Aram,  president 
of  The  Associated  Tobacco  Growers  Inc.  of  California  and  has  been 
successfully  used  in  this  state.  It  is  known  as  the  Pacific  Type  Cure 
House. 


Fig.  10. — Outline  of  the  Pacific  Type  Cure  House.     For  detail  see  text. 


m 


•m 


F 


Fig.  11. — Section  of  a  Pacific  Type  Cure  House.     For  detail  see  text. 


SOME  SUGGESTIONS 

It  will  be  seen  that  Turkish  tobacco  raising  is  a  highly  specialized 
industry  requiring  the  greatest  attention  to  detail  at  all  times.  The 
grower  must  exercise  judgment  and  care  from  the  choice  of  seed  to 
the  end  of  the  preliminary  curing.  Of  course  he  could  carry  the 
leaf  through  the  fermentation  and  grading  but  on  the  whole  it  would 
be  poor  policy  to  do  so.     The  manufacturers  demand  a  uniform  pro- 


664  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

duct  and  if  each  grower  cures  his  leaf  to  the  selling  stage  such  uni- 
formity cannot  be  obtained.  There  would  be  about  as  many  variations 
in  the  cured  product  as  there  were  individuals  engaged  in  the  work. 
Standardization  is  well  understood  by  our  California  farmers  and 
this  can  be  accomplished  by  the  growers  only  by  well  considered  and 
well  executed  cooperation.  Without  this  sort  of  cooperation  the 
individual  will  find  himself  at  the  mercy  of  a  not  too  friendly  market 
and  his  venture  will  end  in  failure.  Central  curing,  grading,  and 
aging  barns  should  be  provided.  They  should  not  be  privately  owned 
and  operated  but  should  be  cooperatively  the  property  of  the  growers. 
Men  should  be  employed  to  manage  them  who  are  experts  in  the 
various  manipulations  the  leaf  must  undergo  so  that  the  final  result 
will  be  proper  curing,  good  quality,  and  uniform  grading.  Lack 
of  uniformity  of  curing  (fig.  12)  will  in  itself  tend  to  degrade  the 
product  and  reduce  the  price.  The  cooperative  idea  in  handling 
agricultural  products  is  not  a  new  one  to  the  farmers  of  this  state. 
The  time  is  not  so  far  back  when  butter  was  manufactured  on  the 
farm  and  each  purchase  the  consumer  made  might  be  considered 
an  experiment.  Sometimes  the  product  pleased  and  sometimes  it 
was  a  disappointment.  Then  came  the  day  of  the  creameries,  mostly 
operated  cooperatively,  and  the  result  was  improvement  in  the  quality 
and  uniformity  in  the  character  of  the  butter. 

Standardization  is  well  understood  by  our  fruitmen  and  no  suc- 
cessful orchardist  would  admit  any  desirability  whatever  in  the  hit 
or  miss  jumble  of  former  days.  The  business  could  not  stand  the 
strain. 

The  grower  of  Turkish  tobacco  should  profit  by  the  lessons 
taught  in  other  lines  of  agriculture  and  be  a  cooperator  first,  last, 
and  always.  He  should,  through  cooperation,  be  in  a  position  to 
put  the  manufactured  article  on  the  market  provided  he  cannot  get 
a  fairly  remunerative  price  otherwise.  He  should  remember  that 
the  honest  buyer  would  prefer  to  buy  where  there  are  large  lots  of 
a  uniform  type  than  to  search  for  this  type  through  a  large  number 
of  non-uniform  lots  of  leaf.  The  business  of  curing  and  disposing 
of  the  crop  can  be  expected  to  remain  in  the  unsatisfactory  position 
it  has  so  far  occupied  unless  this  general  idea  of  cooperation  is  devel- 
oped and  maintained.  L 


BULLETIN  366]      TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,   CURING,    MARKETING         665 


Fig.    12. — Non-uniform   curing.     Note  variations  in   shading.      This   condition 
caused  a  reduction  in  price  of  the  product. 


666  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 


FERMENTATION,   GRADING,   AND  MARKETING 

Contribution  of  Alfred  Aram,  President,  Associated  Tobacco  Growers  Inc., 

of  California 

The  success  of  the  final  fermentation  and  uniform  grading  deter- 
mines to  a  great  extent  the  value  of  the  finished  product.  Under  no 
condition,  however,  will  good  fermentation  overcome  the  results  of 
mistakes  during  the  growing  and  sun  curing.  To  ferment  Turkish 
tobacco  special  equipment  and  expert  supervision  is  essential.  This 
makes  it  both  inadvisable  and  expensive  for  the  farmer  to  cure  his 
own  crop.  Also,  the  work  of  grading  the  tobacco  to  uniform  grades 
acceptable  to  the  manufacturer  is  very  important  and  the  fermen- 
tation and  grading  are  best  done  at  the  same  time  and  place.  It 
is  evident  that  if  each  farmer  were  to  undertake  to  grade  his  crop 
there  could  be  no  uniform  grades.  The  necessity  of  uniform  grades 
and  their  relation  to  marketability  and  price  is  too  well  understood 
by  the  California  farmers  to  need  further  comment. 

METHODS  OF  FERMENTING  TURKISH  TYPE  TOBACCO 

There  are  two  methods  of  fermentation,  'bulk'  fermentation, 
and  'bale'  fermentation.  The  particular  method  to  be  followed  can 
be  determined  only  by  experts  who  must  carefully  consider  the 
quality,  the  condition,  the  intended  use,  weather  conditions,  and 
the  preferences  of  the  market. 

Bulk  fermentation. — In  previous  chapters  we  have  seen  that  after 
the  sun-cure  the  tobacco  strings  are  hung  in  the  barn  in  garlands 
of  five  strings  (figs.  11-17).  In  the  fall  or  early  winter,  damp 
weather  will  make  the  tobacco  soft  and  pliable  and  it  can  then  be 
handled  without  danger  of  breaking  the  leaves.  The  garlands  are 
now  taken  down  and  delivered  to  the  nearest  receiving  plant  or 
warehouse  equipped  to  ferment  and  grade  the  tobacco  and  bale  it 
ready  for  shipment.  For  bulk  fermentation  the  tobacco  should 
not  contain  more  than  four  per  cent  nor  less  than  three  per  cent 
of  moisture  by  weight.  Not  often  does  tobacco  delivered  in  the 
fall  contain  less  than  the  minimum  moisture  required.  In  most 
cases  it  is  far  in  excess  of  the  maximum  four  per  cent.  The  first 
step  in  the  warehouse  is  to  bring  the  tobacco  to  the  desired  moisture 
content.  This  is  done  either  by  ventilation  or  the  application  of 
slow  heat  or  both.  A  satisfactory  method  of  testing  the  moisture 
content  is  to  take  a  number  of  leaves  from  a  number  of  garlands 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         667 


and  weigh  them.  Then  the  leaves  are  thoroughly  dried  and  weighed 
again.  The  loss  in  weight  represents  the  weight  of  the  moisture 
evaporated.  The  percentage  can  be  arrived  at  by  the  formula 
100A 


B 


==  X  where  A  represents  the  loss  in  weight,  B  the  weight  before 


drying,  and  X  the  percentage  of  moisture  content  to  be  determined. 
After  the  tobacco  is  brought  to  the  proper  moisture  content 
the  bulk  or  pile  is  made  in  a  room  where  humidity  and  temperature 
can  be  controlled.  The  bed  is  first  laid  on  the  clean  board  floor  by 
putting  trash  (tobacco  of  no  commercial  value)  or  blankets  about 
three  inches  high  a.nd  covering  a  space  10  x  10  feet,  the  tobacco 
to  be  fermented  is  next  laid  on  this  bed  in  straight  rows  with  the 
strings  in  straight  lines  and  the  leaves  overlapping  about  one-half 
of  their  length.  Since  the  strings  are  seven  feet  long  and  the  fer- 
menting pile  ten  feet  long  there  will  be  three  feet  'overage.'  This 
is  necessary  as  will  be  explained  later.  In  making  the  pile  and 
laying  the  strings  the  method  shown  in  the  diagrams  is  followed 
(fig.  13). 


/7/-j6  Ftow 


lo' 


TJgZZ 


Th>rd    Row 

III 

1 

III 

Fourth   Rtw 


Fig.   13. — Arrangement   of  strings  of  tobacco  for  bulk   fermentation, 
detail  see  text. 


For 


All  the  stems  in  the  first  layer  point  in  the  same  direction  while 
the  stems  in  the  second  layer  point  in  the  opposite  direction.  This 
method  of  alternating  the  direction  of  the  stems  and  the  'overage' 
is  carried  out  to  the  completion  of  the  pile  ten  feet  high.  It  will 
be  seen  that  every  fourth  layer  will  have  the  same  direction  of  stems 
and  overage. 

In  building  the  pile  or  bulk,  when  it  is  five  feet  high  a  speci- 
ally constructed  thermometer  is  placed  on  the  pile  with  the  base  at 
the  center  of  the  pile  and  the  reading  end  projecting  beyond  the 
edge.  The  entire  bulk  is  then  covered  with  blankets  or  quilts  pro- 
vided for  this  purpose. 

The  pile  is  now  left  to  'heat  up'  to  the  desired  degree  but  under 
no  condition  to  exceed  120°  F.  This  first  heating  may  require  from 
eight  to  twenty-four  hours  according  to  a  number  of  conditions. 
When  the  first  heating  has  reached  the  desired  point,  the  pile  is 


668 


UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 


torn  down,  the  tobacco  allowed  to  cool  and  bulked  again  for  the 
second  heating.  It  is  obvious  that  the  center  is  the  warmest  part 
of  the  bulk  and  the  temperature  decreases  in  the  direction  of  the 
outer  edges.  Therefore  in  building  the  second  pile  from  the  first 
pile  special  care  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  tobacco  on  or  near 
the  outer  edges  at  the  first  pile  will  come  near  the  center  of  the 
second  pile.  This  is  essential  to  insure  the  uniform  fermentation  of 
all  the  tobacco.  This  may  be  accomplished  in  several  ways.  The 
following  method  is  satisfactory. 

The  pile  is  taken  down  from  the  top  until  approximately  one- 
fourth  is  taken  off  and  laid  to  one  side  (fig.  14).  This  is  repre- 
sented in  the  following  diagram  as  Section  A.  Then  Section  B  is 
taken  off  and  placed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  pile.  Section  C 
is  placed  on  Section  B  and  Section  D  on  Section  A.  This  leaves 
vacant  the  place  occupied  by  the  first  pile.  A  new  bed  is  made  on  the 
space  occupied  by  the  first  pile  and  the  second  pile  is  constructed 
by  placing  all  the  various  sections  in  the  order  of  C.  D.  A.  B. 


^ 

fjec.    D 

^ 

Sec  C 

(  Sec    C 

> 

Sec   A 

Sec.  _D 

Jec.  B 

Jec.   A 
S*c.  C 


Fig.  14. — Piling  for  bulk  fermentation.     For  detail  see  text. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Sections  B  and  C  were  in  the  center  of  the 
first  pile  and  received  the  maximum  amount  of  fermentation  while 
Sections  A  and  D  being  at  the  top  and  bottom  respectively  received 
the  minimum  of  fermentation.  In  the  new  pile,  Sections  A  and  D 
are  placed  at  the  center  with  B  and  C  at  the  top  and  bottom  respec- 
tively. In  making  up  the  second  pile  a  system  should  be  followed 
so  as  to  insure,  without  confusion  and  mistakes,  that  the  ends  of  the 
strings  at  the  outer  edge  of  the  first  pile  will  come  inside  of  the 
overage  of  the  second  pile.  This  is  necessary  to  give  uniform  fer- 
mentation to  both  ends  of  the  strings.  The  method  of  alternating 
the  ends  of  the  strings  in  the  overage  from  the  first  to  the  second 


BULLETIN  366]       TURKISH   TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         669 

pile  may  be  made  clear  by  the  following  diagram  (fig.  15).  This 
second  pile  is  also  allowed  to  heat  to  the  predetermined  point  and 
taken  down,  and  the  operation  is  repeated  as  before  until  the  tobacco 
has  fermented  to  the  required  degree.  No  definite  statement  can 
be  made  as  to  the  number  of  bulkings  necessary.  That  is  governed 
by  several  considerations  and  can  be  determined  only  in  each  indi- 
vidual case  at  the  time. 


\ 

// 

L( 

g 

11 

fj 

2? 

14 

(j 

£ 

IS 

f? 

u 

i  ( 

p 

n 

r\ 

H 

it 

o 

7                             K 

11 

s 

.f 

Posiiion     0/    Si rmys   in   f/'rsf  />t/e 


Pfi Sri i op    o{  Sir  /njs  in  second 


P" 


Fig.   15. — Method   of  alternating  position   of   strings   from   first   to   second 
pile.     For   detail   see   text. 


When  the  fermentation  is  complete,  the  tobacco  is  allowed  to 
cool  and  then  it  is  graded  according  to  color,  size,  and  smoking 
quality.  This  also  can  only  be  done  under  expert  supervision  with 
accurate  knowledge  of  manufacturer's  requirements,  the  needs  of  the 
market  intended  to  be  reached,  and  the  types  of  cigarettes  in  which 
the  tobacco  is  to  be  used.  After  grading,  the  tobacco  is  made  into 
uniform  bales  of  approximately  100  pounds  each.  It  is  essential 
that  each  bale  should  contain  tobacco  of  similar  color,  quality,  and 
size. 

The  baling  is  done  by  the  use  of  collapsible  boxes  in  which  the 
tobacco  strings  are  placed  in  uniform  rows  and  in  such  a  way  that 
only  stems  will  be  exposed  at  the  two  opposite  sides  of  the  bale. 
The  contents  of  the  box  is  then  subjected  to  pressure  under  screw 
presses  and  allowed  to  remain  under  pressure  for  a  few  hours.  The 
pressure  is  then  released,  the  box  taken  apart  and  the  tobacco  cov- 
ered with  burlap  on  four  sides — the  top,  bottom,  and  the  two  ends, 
leaving  the  two  sides  formed  by  the  stems  exposed.  These  sides 
are  laced  as  shown  in  figure  16.  This  method  of  baling  makes  it 
possible  to  examine  the  tobacco  in  the  bale  by  loosening  the  lace 
one  one  side  and  after  examination  the  lace  can  be  drawn  tight  and  the 


670  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

bale  restored  to  its  shape  without  opening  the  burlap  covering. 
If  the  fermentation  has  been  done  properly,  the  tobacco  should  not 
heat  again  in  the  bales.  However,  it  is  advisable  to  shift  the  bales 
and  change  their  position  once  in  ten  days  during  the  months  of 
April  and  May  following. 

Bale  fermentation. — In  this  method  of  fermentation  the  tobacco 
is  graded  upon  the  delivery  at  the  warehouse,  the  moisture  is  fixed 
at  not  more  than  three  per  cent,  and  the  material  is  baled  as  described 
under  bulk  fermentation.  The  bales  are  placed  on  shelves  in  a 
building  where  the  tobacco  is  not  subject  to  the  variation  of  out- 
side temperature.  The  bales  are  carefully  inspected  and  their  posi- 
tion shifted  every  ten  clays.     Any  bales  developing  more  than  the 


Fig.  16. — One  hundred  pound  bale  of  tobacco  showing  side  lacing. 

required  heat  are  loosened  by  opening  the  lace  sides  (fig.  16)  and 
air  is  allowed  to  penetrate  through.  The  shifting  of  the  bales  must 
continue  until  fermentation  has  progressed  sufficiently  so  that  no 
longer  heat  is  generated  to  a  degree  to  damage  the  tobacco.  During 
the  April  and  May  following  they  must  be  examined  again  and  any 
bales  having  a  tendency  to  heat  must  be  shifted  every  week  or  ten 
days.  Excessive  moisture  content  at  the  time  of  baling  or  over- 
heating from  failure  to  examine  and  shift  the  bales,  will  result  in 
molding,  which  destroys  the  value  of  the  tobacco  for  smoking  pur- 
poses. The  bale  method  of  fermentation  is  a  slow  process  and  takes 
several  months  to  complete  but  the  results  are  satisfactory.  Bulk 
fermentation  is  completed  in  a  comparatively  short  time  and  it 
makes  possible  a  degree  of  uniformity  of  the  finished  product  rarely 
attainable  by  the  bale  method.  Each  has  its  enthusiastic  advo- 
cates. The  bulk  method,  however,  should  never  be  attempted  except 
under  proved  expert  supervision.  It  is  more  exacting  and  lack  of 
constant  vigilance  or  mistakes  will  result  in  serious  damage  to  the 
tobacco. 


BULLETIN   366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         671 


Fig.  17. — Garlanded  strings  of  tobacco  ready  for  cure  house. 


672  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

The  foregoing  description  of  the  various  methods  of  fermenta- 
tion is  given  for  the  purpose  of  acquainting  the  farmer  with  the 
character  and  importance  of  the  work  involved  in  making  the  crop 
a  finished,  marketable  commodity.  A  detailed,  scientific  discussion 
of  fermentation  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper  and  of  no  prac- 
tical value  to  the  farmer.  Specialized  training,  practical  experi- 
ence, knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  various  markets  and  manu- 
facturers, and  special  equipment  are  absolute  requirements  for  this 
work. 

MARKETING  TURKISH  TOBACCO 

To  determine  the  method  of  marketing  best  adopted  to  this  crop, 
it  is  well  to  keep  in  mind  that 

(a)  Prior  to  fermentation,  Turkish  tobacco  is  highly 
perishable.  The  work  of  fermentation  can  not  be 
delayed  later  than  the  November  following  the  har- 
vest. Beyond  that  period  the  tobacco  cannot  be  held, 
nor  can  it  be  shipped  a  distance  of  more  than  a  day's 
journey. 

(b)  Until  it  is  properly  fermented,  graded,  and  baled, 
tobacco  is  not  a  finished  product  acceptable  to  the 
manufacturer.  It  cannot  enter  the  national  or  world 
market.  The  trade  is  confined  to  tobacco  ready  for 
the  manufacturer. 

It  follows  that  farmers  who  must  sell  their  crop  before  fermenta- 
tion and  grading  have  a  very  short  time  in  which  to  dispose  of  it 
and  can  only  sell  to  buyers  who  may  be  willing  to  buy  the  tobacco 
where  it  is.  Under  these  conditions  the  farmer  must  accept  what- 
ever these  local  buyers  may  be  willing  to  pay.  The  fact  that  leaf 
tobacco  is  a  commodity  enjoying  a  world-wide  market  and  is  bought 
and  sold  throughout  the  year  in  all  countries  is  of  no  practical 
value  to  the  farmer  who  must  sell  his  tobacco  prior  to  fermenta- 
tion and  grading.  Only  those  who  have  properly  fermented  and 
graded  tobacco  to  sell  have  access  to  the  market  in  leaf  tobacco.  In 
the  countries  of  the  Levant,  local  receiving  warehouses  are  owned 
and  operated  by  brokers  or  branch  offices  of  large  manufacturers. 
The  farmer  sells  his  crop  to  these  buyers  soon  after  the  tobacco 
is  sun-cured.  This  system  has  not  been  satisfactory  to  the  farmer. 
Its  defects,  from  the  farmer's  standpoint,  are  obvious.  The  system 
has  persisted  in  the  Levant  because  social  and  economic  conditions 
prevailing  there  have  made  it   difficult   if   not   impossible   for  the 


Bulletin    366]       TURKISH    TOBACCO    CULTURE,    CURING,    MARKETING         673 

farmers   to   have   their   own   finishing   plants   and   to    market   their 
tobacco  cooperatively. 

The  success  of  cooperative  marketing  in  California  suggests  that 
the  tobacco  growers  of  this  state  should  own  and  operate  the  receiv- 
ing warehouses  in  each  district  on  the  cooperative  principle.  That 
the  tobacco  growers  of  the  state  realize  this  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  there  has  been  organized  the  "  Associated  Tobacco  Growers 
Inc."  of  California,  a  non-stock,  non-profit,  growers  marketing  asso- 
ciation. 

PESTS 

Already  a  number  of  pests  have  appeared  to  vex  the  grower  of 
tobacco  in  California.  The  greatest  losses  noted  have  been  caused 
by  jack  rabbits.  The  tobacco  plant  with  its  very  bitter,  unpleasant 
tasting  leaves  would  not  seem  to  be  very  tempting  to  these  animals 
yet  they  find  the  interior  portion  of  the  main  stalk  much  to  their 
liking.  This  portion  of  the  growing  plant  is  sweet  and  succulent  and 
the  jack  rabbits  gnaw  away  the  bark  and  eat  out  the  heart  of  the 
plant,  thus  causing  its  death.  The  writer  has  seen  a  field  of  tobacco 
so  badly  injured  by  jack  rabbits  that  it  was  not  worth  harvesting. 
A  good  rabbit  proof  fence  of  meshed  wire  fencing  and  the  consci- 
entious use  of  the  shotgun  will  adequately  control  this  pest.  Some 
success  has  been  had  with  poisoned  baits.  The  most  efficient  poison 
bait  so  far  reported  has  been  raisins  with  a  minute  crystal  of  strych- 
nine worked  into  each  one. 

Ground  squirrels  are  reported  to  have  caused  losses  in  many 
cases  though  not  so  great  as  those  caused  by  jack  rabbits.  Before  the 
field  is  planted,  a  vigorous  campaign  of  destruction  of  squirrels 
should  be  carried  on.  Poisoned  baits,  raisins  and  strychnine,  and 
poisoned  grains  should  be  used.  Destruction  by  gasses  should  also 
be  a  part  of  the  campaign.  The  State  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Sacramento,  California,  will,  through  its  Division  of  Rodent  Control, 
aid  in  a  practical  way  in  such  a  campaign.  The  College  of  Agri- 
culture of  the  University  of  California  is  also  prepared  to  aid  and 
assist  in  work  of  this  sort. 

Of  insect  pests,  several  kinds  have  proved  so  far  to  be  somewhat 
troublesome.  Grasshoppers  have  been  reported  as  a  menace,  though 
the  damage  caused  by  them  has  been  insignificant. 

The  common  tomato  worm  and  the  tobacco  worm,  the  larvae  of 
certain  of  the  humming-bird  moths  known  as  the  horned  caterpillars 
(Protoparce  sexta  and  Protoparce  quinquemaculata)  are  probably 
the  most  troublesome  insect  pests  in  the  tobacco  fields.  So  far  con- 
trol has   been   obtained   bv   destroying   the   individual   worms  when 


674  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

seen  and  by  destroying:  the  egg  masses.  The  eggs  are  laid  on  the  under 
sides  of  the  larger  leaves  near  the  center  and  the  number  may  run 
as  high  as  thirty  to  each  mass.  The  moths  fly  freely  in  the  early 
evening  and  some  growers  report  great  success  in  light-trapping 
the  pregnant  females.  The  method  used  is  to  place  ordinary  lanterns 
in  shallow  pans  having  about  an  inch  of  oil  coated  water  in  them. 
These  are  put  about  in  the  field,  and  the  moths,  attracted  by  the 
lights,  dash  to  them  and  fall  into  the  oil-coated  water.  By  using 
all  three  methods,  the  damage  done  by  the  larvae  of  the  humming- 
bird moth  may  be  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

The  tobacco  flea  beetle  (Epitrix  sp.)  is  frequently  troublesome 
in  tobacco  fields.  It  is  a  very  minute,  dark  brown  to  black  beetle  which 
when  seen  under  a  fairly  strong  magnifying  glass  is  found  to  be 
quite  pilose.  It  can  be  readily  recognized  from  its  jumping  move- 
ments which  resemble  those  of  a  flea  and  from  which  it  takes  its 
name. 

Cut-worms,  the  larvae  of  certain  noctuid  moths,  occasionally  do 
damage  to,  or  even  destroy,  the  young  plants.  Good  cultural  methods 
usually  keep  these  pests  below  the  danger  point  though  occasionally 
poisoned  baits  may  have  to  be  used  to  control  them.  Cabbage  leaves, 
sliced  carrots  or  sliced  potatoes  lightly  dusted  with  equal  parts  of 
Paris  Green  and  flour  have  been  found  to  be  effective  when  placed 
where  these  larvae  can  find  them  and  feed  on  them. 

No  diseases  of  any  importance  have  been  noted  yet  in  our  Calif- 
ornia tobacco  fields.  Root  rot  has  been  observed  and  in  every 
case  was  directly  traceable  to  either  careless  or  excessive  use  of  water. 

None  of  the  troubles  here  noted  save  the  jack  rabbits  and  squirrel 
nuisance  has  been  the  cause  of  death  of  any  considerable  number  of 
plants.  However,  any  damage  to  a  part  of  a  leaf  makes  perfect 
curing  of  it  nearly  impossible.  The  leaf  that  has  been  injured 
however  slightly  by  grasshoppers,  tobacco  worms,  cutworms,  or  flea 
beetles  must  go  in  a  grade  lower  than  the  leaf  not  so  injured  and 
so  in  the  aggregate  a  considerable  loss  may  occur.  The  grower's 
aim  should  be  to  produce  a  perfect  leaf,  therefore  every  effort  should 
be  made  to  control  pests  of  all  kinds. 


Bulletin  366]      TURKISH   TOBACCO   CULTURE,   CURING,    MARKETING        675 


APPENDIX 

Daniel  S.  Neuman,  of  Napa,  California,  a  man  of  wide  experience 
in  all  phases  of  tobacco  production  and  curing,  offers  the  following 
information  and  comment : 

When  writing  a  thesis  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Chemistry 
in  the  University  of  San  Vladimir,  Kief,  Russia,  I  chose  the  subject 
of  qualitative  analysis  of  nicotines  found  in  different  varieties  of 
European  and  Asiatic  grown  tobaccos.  The  first  part  of  this  thesis 
was  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  history  of  tobacco  in  those  countries. 
Using  only  the  original  sources,  I  found  that : 

"Tobacco  was  first  introduced  into  Spain  from  the  American  continent 
in  the  16th  century.  From  there  it  was  easy  to  trace  its  rapid  spread  to 
France,  Austria,  Hungary,  the  Balkan  States,  Greece,  Turkey,  and  thence 
eventually  to  Eussia.  Tobacco  was  also  grown  in  Great  Britain  in  con- 
siderable quantities  in  the  17th  century,  but  its  cultivation  was  prohibited 
after  a  few  years,  so  as  not  to  injure  the  American  industry  (America  being 
at  that  time  a  colony  of  Great  Britain). 

It  is  easy  to  understand  why  Spain,  France,  Austria  and  Hungary  ceased 
to  be  tobacco  growing  countries  as  all  of  them  adopted  a  government  mo- 
nopoly on  all  tobacco  products,  and  the  maximum  fixed  price  for  home-grown 
tobacco  was  so  small,  that  it  hardly  paid  a  planter  to  continue  to  cultivate 
it." 

One  of  the  main  ingredients  of  tobacco  is  Nicotianin  (tobacco 
camphor).  This  crystallizes  easily  at  the  ordinary  temperature  of 
the  air. 

Nicotina,  an  alkaloid  similar  to  conia  (a  strong  narcotic),  does 
not  exist  in  tobacco  in  solid  form  at  the  ordinary  temperature. 
It  can  be  found  only  in  an  oily  volatile  state.  Nor  does  it  exist 
in  infusions  of  tobacco,  and  only  a  mere  trace  of  it  can  be  found 
in  decoctions.  But  when  tobacco  is  burned  as  in  smoking,  the  fol- 
lowing  substances   are    formed : 

1.  Nicotianin 

2.  Empyreumatic    oil 

3.  Carbonate    of    ammonia 

4.  Soot 

5.  Different   gases    (7) 

The  common  name  generally  applied  to  these  combined  sub- 
stances is  Nicotine.  This  point  is  very  important  as  the  samples 
of  Turkish  tobacco  grown  in  different  countries  show  a  great  vari- 
ation in  the  percentage  of  these  ingredients.  To  have  a  perfect 
aromatic  tobacco  the  percentages  have  to  be  evenly  balanced.     For 


676  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

instance,  Havana,  Cuba,  tobacco  not  grown  under  canvas  contains 
such  a  small  percentage  of  tobacco  camphor  that  it  lacks  aroma 
and  is  of  little  commercial  value.  On  the  other  hand,  Havana  to- 
bacco grown  under  canvas  (which  protects  it  from  the  chemical 
action  of  the  sun's  fierce  rays)  retains  all  its  volatile  constituents, 
thus  developing  the  aroma  and  flavor  which  are  so  much,  prized  by 
smokers  the  world  over.  No  tobacco  today  commands  so  high  a 
price    as   Havana   raised   under   canvas. 

A  good  deal  of  difference  can  be  noticed  in  tobacco  grown  in 
different  districts  in  Turkey,  as  the  amount  of  essential  constitu- 
ents varies  according  to  the  latitude.  Tobacco  grown  in  the  northern 
districts  is  much  more  delicate  and  of  finer  quality. 

Advice  to  cover  with  paper  bags  the  tobacco  blossoms,  on  plants 
selected  for  seed  in  order  to  prevent  cross-pollinization  is  very  good  in 
part,  but  my  experience  proves  that  many  of  the  seeds  do  not  full}7 
mature  if  covered  continuously,  as  the  paper  covering  prevents  proper 
ventilation  of  the  seed  capsules.  The  writer  adopted  the  following 
plan: 

1.  Cover  with  paper  bags  until  the  capsules  are  entirely  formed, 
then,   replace  bag  with   a  double  thickness   of   cheese   cloth. 

2.  When  the  seeds  have  entirely  matured,  dip  the  whole  seed 
crown  in  bichloride  of  mercury  solution  1  to  30,000,  to  destroy 
tobacco  dust  insects,  etc. ;  dry  thoroughly  at  once,  and  seal  in  a 
paper   sack   previously  pricked   with   a  pin   for   ventilation. 

The  writer  used  the  following  method : 

The  collected  leaves  were  placed  in  piles  about  ten  inches  high 
on  tables  in  a  cool,  well  ventilated  room,  and  left  until  they  com- 
menced to  sweat  (evaporation  of  sap).  This  usually  required  from 
thirty  to  thirty-eight  hours.  (At  the  same  time  this  wilts  the  to- 
bacco leaves  and  renders  them  so  flexible  that  there  is  less  danger 
of  breaking  or  damaging  them  wThen  they  are  being  strung.) 

Having  strung  and  fastened  the  tobacco  to  the  sticks  the  sticks 
were  placed  in  the  shade  where  they  were  kept  for  three  or  four  days, 
until  the  leaves  began  to  turn  yellow,  when  they  were  removed  to 
the  open  racks  for  sun  curing. 


